California Committing Educational Suicide

Posted on May 12, 2012

A Public Policy Institute of California report shows that amid soaring tuition costs and diminishing state government support for higher education, large numbers of students are surrendering the quest for a four-year degree because they simply can’t afford it.

Researchers reported that among all high school graduates, enrollment in California state universities has plunged by about one-fifth since 2007. —ARK

Kevin Drum at Mother Jones:

According to the PPIC report, state support for higher education over the past two decades has plummeted by a third and tuition charges have skyrocketed to make up the difference. When I attended CSU-Long Beach in the late ’70s, it cost me a little over $100 per semester in tuition and fees. Adjusted for inflation that’s about $300 in today’s dollars. But that’s not what today’s students pay. They pay about $3,000 per semester. UC students pay about $6,000 per semester. The cost of a state university education has skyrocketed 10 times in California.

… So what’s happening to these students? Are they going elsewhere? A few are. PPIC reports no increase in enrollments at private California universities and only a small increase in enrollments at community colleges (which have their own budget problems) and out-of-state universities. Their conclusion: “It appears that sizable numbers of high school graduates in California are increasingly less likely to enroll in any four-year college and that a small but notable share of those who were eligible and even accepted into UC and CSU do not attend college anywhere.”